


Unearthing An Anomaly

by knitekat



Series: Unearthing An Anomaly [1]
Category: Primeval
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Gen, Looking For Fossils, Mars, Robots, Running Gunfight, Worldbuilding, bandits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-13
Updated: 2014-07-13
Packaged: 2018-02-08 16:55:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1948971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knitekat/pseuds/knitekat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick and Stephen's dig in the Martian badlands ends up a lot more exciting than they would have wanted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unearthing An Anomaly

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks go to Fififolle for the beta.

Stephen sighed, he'd needed a break after spending most of the morning trying to convince Nick that the diggerbots wouldn't ruin any fossils as they stripped the layers of soil and rocks away. Their sensors and programming wouldn't allow it. He knew Nick favoured the old-fashioned way his own professor had, but most students didn't, not when they could leave it to the 'bots. 

He strolled up the hillside towards the ridge that separated it from the next valley. He paused when he saw the signs of a Rock-hopper colony before changing his path. The red-scaled reptiles wouldn't appreciate his company. Instead, he found one of the blood-red boulders scattered across the Martian badlands they were currently excavating to sit on.

Stephen quickly sated his thirst before cracking open one of the delicious ground nuts he'd grown so fond of. The pale pink shell cracked to reveal the moist mauve nut inside and the wondrous smell of freshly cut grass, before he lifted it to his lips and sucked the nut free, its tangy taste exploding on his taste-buds. 

He was cracking his fourth open when he tensed as a small shower of stones rolled down the hillside. His hand reached for the pulser strapped to his thigh as he scanned the area for danger. It took him several moments to spot the intruder, its red scales providing it perfect camouflage, and that was only because he caught sight of its jade green eyes. He sat back down and waited patiently until the Rock-hopper cautiously scampered closer. 

“Hungry?” he enquired before reaching for an unopened ground nut and tossed it near to the creature. A smile graced his lips as the Rock-hopper slowly advanced towards it, its tendrils quivering before it darted forward to clasp the nut to its chest with its front paws before racing off on its other four limbs. “Enjoy it,” Stephen called out to it before he finished his own snack and made his way back down to the dig site. 

“Stephen!” Nick called out as soon as he saw him. “Over here. You have to see this.”

“What is it?” Stephen asked as he approached, noticing that the skeleton appeared to be mostly intact. 

“It looks like a new genus,” Nick said before beckoning Stephen closer. “And that's not all. Look!”

Stephen smiled good naturedly, he was used to Nick getting carried away with his discoveries, it was what had attracted him to the man's side in the first place... his eyes widened when he saw what Nick was pointing at. “Is that integral?” 

Nick nodded. “Do you know what this means?” 

“Bloody hell,” Stephen muttered as he dropped to his knees by the fossil. “That's impossible.” 

“I know.” Nick shook his head. “We need to take holographics of the skeleton and date the rock before we move it. This could be the discovery of a lifetime, Stephen.”

Stephen nodded as he stared at the object – obviously man-made, or rather Martian-made – that jutted from within the fossil's ribcage, amongst virgin-rock. “Is this for real?”

“I don't know. We need to get it back to the Academy.”

***

Stephen sat at the table in their shelter and carefully chipped the rock away from the hexagonal cylinder before he swore at what he'd discovered. This find was becoming more and more unbelievable. It had to be the biggest hoax of all time. It had to be, because if it wasn't, everything he knew would be re-written.

“Stephen?” Nick jolted up from their bed where he'd been dozing. 

“This is metal, Nick.” Fuck! If this was real, it would make the object the oldest known metal object ever found on Mars, but that wasn't his biggest revelation. “And it has writing on it.”

“Writing?” Nick rolled to his feet and was at Stephen's side in a heartbeat. “Old Martian? Arcadian Script?”

Stephen cleaned the object gently until he could see the engraving and stopped. “That's impossible.” He ran his fingers over the engraving, wondering if they could have come from some obscure, long forgotten dialect... “Nick?” If it was what he thought it was... then this find was impossible and unprecedented. It couldn't be real, but who the hell would go to so much trouble to plant a forgery here? Not to mention, why would they bother? 

“Stephen?”

“It looks like numbers... English numbers.” Stephen knew he must have looked as shocked as Nick for English hadn't existed when the creature had lived. “Maybe it is some type of prank?” Before Nick could reply, the perimeter alarm sounded before a pulse shot took it out. “Fuck! Bandits!” 

Stephen shoved the artefact into Nick's hands. “Make for the skimmer. I'll cover you.”

“Be careful.” Nick dragged Stephen into a kiss. “Remember I can't fly it.”

“You can, you just don't like to then you can't ogle me,” Stephen shot back before smiling. “And I'll be right behind you. Now go.”

Stephen watched as Nick bolted towards their skimmer before he took pot shots at any bandit he could see. He waited for Nick to reach the skimmer before running over himself and flipping into the vehicle. He smiled as he realised Nick had switched the engine on and raised the dust shield. “Hold on.”

***

Stephen flew the skimmer low over the dry soil and craggy rocks of the badlands, trying to present the smallest possible target to the bandits as he aimed for the ridge that separated their dig site from the next valley. Once out of range... he swore and sent the skimmer sideways as a rock exploded beside them.

Nick craned his head around and swore. “They'd got skimmers and, fuck! Looks like jet bikes.”

Stephen nodded as he noticed the colony of Rock-hoppers scamper for cover as he zipped over their warren and considered his options. He knew he only had one, the skimmers would have the same endurance as their own, while the jet bikes were faster but had only limited endurance. If he could evade them for long enough, if he could reach the canal first, they would have a chance. He threw the throttle wide open as he cut their ceiling until he could use the various boulders for cover as he raced for the canals, hoping to run into one of the security patrols he usually tried to avoid. 

“The jet bikes have turned back,” Nick called out. 

Stephen smiled at that news, with the bikes gone he would only have to keep ahead of the bandit's skimmers. He swore when a lucky shot clipped their skimmer, stealing some of their speed and agility, although he managed to keep it flying. He could hear Nick swearing behind him but didn't have the time to check on him. “Come on, baby.” Stephen cajoled the vehicle, knowing the bandits now had the advantage. 

He sighed in relief when he saw a tinge of green on the horizon, knowing it meant a canal was ahead, for vegetation only grew like that near one of the canals. He risked going straight for the canal, even though it would make them an easier target, knowing that the bandits would have to turn back soon or risk an encounter with a Security Forces patrol. Stephen watched as the landscape turned from red to brown to green and kept half-an-eye on the bandits, waiting for them to turn and run but knowing they wouldn't. Not if they were after the artefact, and they had to be for no bandit would attack such a poor prize as an Academy fossil hunter's skimmer. It wouldn't be worth the fuel or energy cells. 

Nick let out a relieved sigh when they crested the canal bank and Stephen sent the skimmer diagonally down the bank until they were skimming across the water low enough to send curtains of water into the air. Wasting water was an illegal act and Stephen could only hope it would be picked up by the satellites and a response team would be dispatched... at least, as long as it wasn't a drone, they had a tendency to shoot first and not ask any questions. 

He carefully aimed when a bend in the canal appeared, cutting it close to gain as much distance as he could on the bandits, while knowing they'd do the same. He could only hope he didn't cut it too close and clip the bank, then they really would be at the mercy of the bandits... and they weren't known to possess any. 

Stephen swore as he cleared the bend and yanked the controls violently to the side. He heard Nick's groan and his own stomach lurched as he spun the skimmer at almost 90 degrees and barely cleared the waiting Security Force Armoured Carrier and a flight of jet bikes. Fuck! That was too bloody close. He slowed down and circled back as the Carrier opened fire on the bandit's skimmers, blasting one out of the sky and sending the second spiralling into the canal. The jet bikes circled the downed skimmer as soldiers took the surviving bandits into custody. 

It didn't surprise Stephen when he received instructions to land at the Security Forces base, it was standard procedure when it came to bandit attacks and he'd been planning on landing there anyway, especially when it was clear that someone at the Academy had sold them out to the bandits. What he didn't trust was that the patrol had obviously been lying in wait for the bandits... and for them... not that he had much choice with a pair of jet bikes pacing them.

***

Stephen hadn't been surprised when he and Nick were greeted on landing, although his eyebrow rose when he realised the blond-haired and well-built soldier waiting for them was a high-ranking officer. What really surprised him and had him worrying was when the man didn't take them to Interrogation but instead to what was looking increasingly likely the offices of the base's commander, possibly even that of the soldier they were following.

The officer motioned Stephen and Nick through the door which opened automatically, before following them inside. Stephen glanced around, noting a few knick-knacks as well as the back of a chair. “Sir? Your guests are here.”

“Thank you, Captain Ryan.” 

The man spun his chair around to face them, his fingers steepled as he stared at them out of intense green eyes. Wearing a suit and tie, the man looked more like a civil servant than a soldier... oh fuck! It was then that Stephen realised the man was a spook. What the fuck had they stumbled into? 

“Gentlemen.” Although the man spoke with a cultured accent, clear disdain dripped from the word as if he didn't want to associate with the likes of them. “My name is James Lester. I believe you have stumbled over something interesting....”


End file.
